Homeless count gets underway as volunteers fan out across LA County

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The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has begun the 2024 homeless count in an effort to capture a point-in-time snapshot of the homelessness crisis impacting the region.

Officially called the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, it is expected to occur over a three-day period. Thousands of volunteers are expected to spread out across the 4,000 square miles of L.A. County to conduct the count. Traveling in small groups, volunteers will tally the number of unsheltered individuals, tents, vehicles, and make-shift shelters they see in their assigned Census tract.

Va Lecia Adams Kellum, CEO of LAHSA, is expected to host a news conference Tuesday in North Hollywood alongside Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and other city and county officials. Federal partners Jason Pu, regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Helene Schneider, senior regional advisor for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, are expected to join as well.

Volunteers will receive count materials and a brief training. The annual homeless count technically began Monday night with counts in shelters and will continue on Tuesday night, starting in the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys.

On Wednesday, volunteers will be sent out in West L.A., Southeast L.A. and the South Bay area. On the final night, Thursday, counters will travel around the Antelope Valley, Metro L.A. and South L.A.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a biennial point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness, according to LAHSA.

In 2016, the homeless agency started organizing the count annually to provide improved analysis regarding the trends of people experiencing homelessness. Government agencies, including LAHSA, use the data collected to develop strategies to end homelessness and determine where funding and resources will do the most good.

The Alarming State of Homelessness People in Los Angeles: 75,518 People Struggle to Find Shelter